Sulidae

Sulidae
Temporal range: Early Eocene – recent
47–0 Ma
Brown booby, Sula leucogaster
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Suliformes
Family: Sulidae
Reichenbach, 1849
Genera

Morus
Papasula
Sula

Synonyms

Enkurosulidae Kashin, 1977
Pseudosulidae Harrison, 1975[1][2]

The bird family Sulidae comprises the gannets and boobies. Collectively called sulids, they are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish and similar prey. The 10 species in this family are often considered congeneric in older sources, placing all in the genus Sula. However, Sula (true boobies) and Morus (gannets) can be readily distinguished by morphological, behavioral, and DNA sequence characters. Abbott's booby (Papasula) is given its own genus, as it stands apart from both in these respects. It appears to be a distinct and ancient lineage, maybe closer to the gannets than to the true boobies.[3][4]

  1. ^ C.J.O. Harrison's Pseudosula of 1975 is a junior homonym of Pseudosula as established by Boetticher in 1955: Mlíkovský (2002: p.67)
  2. ^ Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World (Part 1: Europe). Ninox Press, Prague. ISBN 80-901105-3-8 PDF fulltext Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine p.66
  3. ^ Kennedy, Martyn; Spencer, Hamish G. & Gray, Russell D. (1996): Hop, step and gape: do the social displays of the Pelecaniformes reflect phylogeny? Animal Behaviour 51(2): 273-291. doi:10.1006/anbe.1996.0028 (HTML abstract) Erratum: Animal Behaviour 51(5): 1197. doi:10.1006/anbe.1996.0124
  4. ^ Friesen, V.L.; Anderson, D.J.; Steeves, T.E.; Jones, H. & Schreiber, E.A. (2002): Molecular Support for Species Status of the Nazca Booby (Sula granti). Auk 119(3): 820–826. [English with Spanish abstract] DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2002)119[0820:MSFSSO]2.0.CO;2 PDF fulltext Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine